


Invasion

by FirebirdsDaughter



Category: Power Rangers S.P.D.
Genre: Angst, Character Deaths, Gen, probably pretty canon-typical, some violence, wrote this years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 03:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14096334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirebirdsDaughter/pseuds/FirebirdsDaughter
Summary: SPD has fallen to the parasitic alien species the Drax; but B Squad manages to survive. With broken Morphers, no backup, and even less time, the Rangers fight a desperate battle to protect their city, and the world. But there may be greater forces at play to prevent them from succeeding...





	1. Destruction

     When the Drax descended, SPD fell to the drone armies in record time, with no preparation for or knowledge of the new race. Jack stood at the edge of the ruins that had once been headquarters, squinting through the smoke. They hadn’t been able to raise anyone on the coms since the place had gone down, and he had since accepted the facts—that they were all, Kat, Doggie, Boom; gone. At a sound behind him, he turned, looking back over his team. They didn’t look exactly professional; Sky, as always, was the closest. The Blue Ranger looked serious and collected, scanning the area for anything and everything. Syd was trying to brush the concrete dust from her hair and pouting slightly, but he could see in her eyes that she understood the situation. Z was shifting from foot to foot, pressing her lips together and eyes narrowed, glancing around for threats. Bridge was crouching down by different parts of the wreckage, waving his hands over the pieces. When Jack whistled loudly for them, however, all four immediately snapped to attention. He climbed down from the slab he’d been standing on, facing the other Rangers. He set his jaw before speaking.

     “… _We_ are SPD now.” The announcement was met with an understanding, if somewhat hesitant, nod; it was a daunting task, after all. An elctromagnetic pulse of some kind had wiped out their Morphers, and with SPD destroyed, they couldn’t get new ones. Taking a deep breath, Jack turned to Sky. “Do we know if there are any SPD locations left standing? We need a base of operations.”

     “One of the Safehouses must have made it through.” The Blue Ranger looked over at the Green one. “Bridge, do you think there’s a way you can find their locations?” Bridge gnawed on his lip, frowning slightly.

     “If we can find a piece of the computer system that still has some power, I might be able to get into the records.”

     “What’s the likelihood of _that_ happening?” Syd wanted to know, but Bridge already had an answer.

     “Right over there.” He pointed. “There’s an energy signature that could be a working computer part.”

     “Okay then!” Z said cheerfully, then trotted over to the rock, creating two more of herself as she did so. Even then, it took all of them and her clones to lift it; underneath, however, was a slightly sparking piece of circuit board.

     “Is that enough?” The Green Ranger nodded, crouching down and opening his bag and pulling out his handheld and a couple of wires. Using a piece of scrap, he pried the back off the device and used the wires to hook it up to the circuits. After a few moments of intense typing, the screen sprang to life.

     “I’m in!” There were another few moments, and then he had the list. Sky peered at it.

     “That address is close by—we probably shouldn’t stray too far from here; the wreckage might have more things we could use.” The others nodded in agreement, and, after a bit of collecting, headed off to the—hopefully standing—Safehouse.

     If Jack had believed in any sort of god, he would have called it their prayers being answered. The Safehouse was still standing, nondescript and almost decrepit among the others on the street. Once Sky and Syd got the door open, they headed inside and began settling in. Of course, ‘settling in’ meant getting to work. Bridge and Z set about researching the Drax while Syd went out to do a perimeter. Sky and Jack checked over the technology and supplies in the house, trying to see what they might be able to use, all the while trying to come up with a plan.

     “If we can get people to stay inside and keep away from the drones, we should be able to hold out a little longer…” Jack mused, then paused as a thought occured to him. “Hey, Bridge!” Carson’s head appeared over the computer.

     “Yeah?”

     “You think there’s a way we can make a sort of… I don’t know, ‘secret radio?’ like, to get news out that the Drax can’t track?” The Green Ranger thought for a moment, then came out around the desk.

     “Maybe…” He glanced around, then scampered over to the wall to do a handstand. “Maybe, if we hijack the phone lines, we can use the basic audio system as some sort of com. It’s so simplistic, it’d be beneath notice.” He dropped back down to his feet.

     “Do it.” Jack told him. “I want to keep the civilians informed.” Bridge nodded, then moved over to the phone and began taking it apart. Jack headed back over to the table to find that Sky was already done with the rations. He looked at the Blue Ranger questioningly, and didn’t like the grim expression he got back. “Bad?” Sky nodded.

     “These places were never meant to be used for more than a few months. We have a limited food supply.”

     “So, we need to either get rid of the Drax quick or figure out how to get more food without being caught.”

     “Neither of those things seem likely.”

     “Really unlikely.” Z had come over while they’d been talking. “All records of the Drax show them rendering whole planets **extinct**. Like, no one survivor or anything. Just… Gone.” Jack frowned.

     “Okay, they’ve gotta have a weakness.”

     “Not necessarily.” Sky muttered, making Jack shoot him a look.

     “ _Everything_ has a weakness, Sky.”

     “I’m not so sure.” They all turned to see that Syd had returned. “They’re out there patrolling the streets right now—I think they’re looking for us.” She came over to stand beside Z. “And they’re _pretty_ scary looking.” This was answered with a large silence—one that was only broken by a crackling sound from the phone Bridge was working on.

     “I’ve pretty much got it!” The Green Ranger beckoned Jack over. “Right now, we should be able to send out one message.”

     “Good.” Jack took the receiver from him. “Set it up.” The others milled around, taking spots to listen to whatever he was going to say. Jack took a deep breath, looking to Bridge. When the other Ranger nodded, he commenced his speech.

     ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is Cadet Jack Landors of SPD. Please know that we are still doing everything we can to handle this threat—in the meantime, do your bests to stay in your homes, and avoid the drones; and, most importantly, do not panic. We can get through this by keeping our heads, and working together.” He motioned to Bridge to cut, and the Green Ranger did so.

     “That was good.” Said Z. “You sounded very authoritative.” Jack thought he saw Sky rolling his eyes, but it happened so quickly, he might have imagined it. He passed the phone back to Bridge, and following everyone as they went back to their tasks.

* * *

     It was Syd who noticed the intact shuttle on one of the satellite images they piggybacked onto, zooming in on a mass of burn marks left by the destroyed ships just outside the city.

     “They must have left it behind when they returned to the ship…” Z murmured.

“Maybe it belonged to one of the drones that was destroyed before SPD came down?”

     “Must be.” Sky pressed his lips together thoughtfully, then, he looked at Jack. “Alright. You honestly want to find out if these things have a weakness, that might be a good place to start.” Bridge, back in his handstand, spoke up from behind them.

     “If we can get to it, it’s possible we would try to jumpstart it to get a more effective means of transportation.” Jack nodded slowly, liking what he was hearing.

     “Alright. Z; me, you, and Sky will head over there and see what we can do. Bridge, you and Syd stay here, keep an eye on things.” Both girls gave affirmatives, and turned away. Bridge righted himself, seeking through his belongings for his blaster. As per usual, Sky was ready long before his roommate. Seemed even the world ending couldn’t make Cadet Tate miss a beat.

     With no other way to get around, Jack and Z hotwired a car while Sky stood guard and looked disapproving at the same time. Once they had it working, Jack kept it in low gear as they rolled towards the edge of the city, taking the smaller streets. They had to stop a few times to avoid the patrols that were haunting the streets, but aside from a few close calls, they made it to the city line without being detected. Once at the edge, they ditched the car and proceeded on foot, heading to the coordinates Jack had scribbled down on his hand. When they arrived, however, they found that the shuttle was cracked and damaged, even falling apart. Jack sighed.

     “I guess the reason it never took off was that it couldn’t.” The other two nodded, before they all shouldered their bags and headed down towards the mechanical mess. Once they were closer, Jack looked it over. “Okay. Z, see if you can find any sort of information centre. Sky and I will see if there’s anything useful out here.” The Yellow Ranger nodded and, finding a hole in the side, clambered in to the small-ish craft. Sky and Jack began to look through the debris field around it. They’d been at it for a good half hour when the two of them regrouped, meeting by half of another destroyed Drax shuttle.

     “Anything?” But the Blue Ranger shook his head.

     “Nothing I could identify.”

     “Same.” Looking over Sky’s shoulder, however, Jack noticed a pile a little further away that he hadn’t checked. Stepping around the other Cadet, he started toward it. He’d only made it a few steps when the pile moved, and a Drax Drone popped out, sparking and shaking, and managed to make a single shot from it’s weapon before collapsing back. The shot, however, went wide, and Jack thought it had missed them completely.

     He wasn’t entirely right.

     The next thing he heard was Sky’s panicked call of “Jack!” and then a sudden shock when the taller Ranger rammed into him, knocking him over—and out of the way of a small landslide of metal as some of the heavy plates of the shuttle’s outer casing collapsed on to the ground. Wincing at what would likely be a bruised hip, Jack pulled out of Sky’s hold, and looked over the wreckage. When he noticed a trail of red slithering down to the ground, and looked to Sky.

     The Blue Ranger hadn’t been able to get them both completely clear of the collapsing metal.

     Sky’s legs and lower torso were pinned up against the side of the ship under the mass of debris, and Jack could see blood smearing some of the metal plating. Sky, ever the stoic, did nothing but grunt quietly, but the Red Ranger could tell that he was in a great deal of pain.

     “Hold… Just hold on a moment!” He wasn’t sure if it was the desperation of seeing one of his team in danger, or if he really was that strong, but somehow, Jack managed to heave most of the metal off Sky, crouching down beside him. The Blue Ranger’s uniform was soaked in blood, and Jack could see that several pieces of plating hand cut right into his back; most alaruming was the piece of metal framing that, when he started to open Sky’s jacket, Jack discovered had run straight through his comrade.

     “Jack…?” He looked up at Sky’s face to find that the other Cadet’s eyes were cracking open, followed by some faint, wheezing coughs.

     “I’m right here, Sky.” The Red Ranger promised, doing his best to get Sky’s jacket open further so that he could fully survey the damage; once he got a glimpse however, he paused.

     If the metal piece sticking out of Sky’s shirt by his abdomen had gone where Jack thought it had, the Blue Ranger was a goner.

     Sky saw it on his face.

     “That bad… Huh?” Jack swallowed, and it made his throat sting. Trying to remember his emergency medical training, he gently felt the Cadet’s ribcage to check for more wounds. What he felt didn’t make things any better. Even with just his basic awareness, he could feel the cracks in Sky’s bones. Even worse, when Sky coughed again, blood spurted from his mouth. Jack gritted his teeth, trying to stay focused on his examination.

     “Don’t worry about it, okay?” But Sky’s attention had wandered slightly, his eyes unfocused and hazey. Jack took advantage of his distraction to try and keep working. The Blue Ranger didn’t appear to be bleeding much, but the first aid courses that Cruger had forced him into told him that that meant most of the bleeding was internal, which was worse. Not only that, but the trouble Sky was having with breathing and the blood trickling from his mouth made Jack believe that the broken ribs had punctured one of his lungs, meaning that Sky was losing air as fast a he was losing blood. He was trying to think of a way to treat the injuries when his teammate spoke again, this time his voice even more hoarse and reedy.

     “You need… To… Protect…” Jack might have heard Z come running up behind him, but he didn’t look. Sky coughed again, and this time, it even more splattered blood over both him and Jack. “… Protect… Remember…” After blinking a few more times and mumbling something incoherent, the Blue Ranger went limp against the side of the shuttle, his eyes going blank. It took Jack a moment to comprehend what had happened. Even then, he sat there, stock still, for a few seconds before he began to crack, shaking Sky by the shoulders.

     “Sky? Sky!” But there was no answer. “No…! _No_!” His second shout of denial was so loud, he heard it echoing off the hallowed shuttle nearby, only to be swallowed up by the emptiness around them. The third, however, was so soft, only he could hear it. “… No…” Jack slumped over, burying his face in Sky’s dead chest as tears erupted from his eyes, fingers clutching at his second-in-command’s uniform. Jack had never been a crier, had never seen any point to it; now, however, there was nothing else he could do.

     He didn’t know how long it was before Z came over and touched his arm.

     “Jack, we need to go. There’s a patrol coming.” The Red Ranger lifted his head, biting his lip hard. He muddled about for a moment, looking between her and Sky’s corpse.

     “We… We can’t… We can’t just leave him here.” Gripping the Blue Ranger’s shoulders, he tried to start pulling him off the piece of metal nailing him to the side of the shuttle; but he couldn’t seem to loosen him from it. At a sound not far from them, the Yellow Ranger grabbed his arm.

     “We have to! Come on!” Jack finally just retrieved Sky's morpher from his jacket, then reluctantly allowed the other Cadet to haul him away. Together, they scuttled and stumbled back to where they had left the car, clambering in. Looking at the gas meter, it occurred to Jack that they’d only just barely be able to make it back to the Safehouse. They drove in heavy silence, Z, despite her previous bravado, was huddling in the passenger seat, hugging herself—losing Sky had hit her just as hard as it had Jack. Jack himself was locking his jaw so hard it hurt, scowling at the road ahead.

* * *

     Once again, they made it back to their base relatively quickly; likely because the Drax were investigating the area they were sure to have found Sky’s body in by now. They pulled up a little distance away from the Safehouse and clambered out to head back on foot. When they trudged in, the other two rushed over, seeing the dejection on their faces.

     “Are you guys okay?” Syd asked, looking between them.

     Bridge squinted over their shoulders. “Wait… Where’s Sky?” Z and Jack looked at each other uncomfortably, both hesitating.

     Finally, Jack took the step forward. “He… He didn’t make it. There was… He saved my life.” Syd’s hands flew to her mouth, and Bridge had to grab the table to hold himself up. It wasn’t long before they were also crying; Sydney in particular. Jack didn’t complain when Z put her arms around him; she knew him well enough to tell that he was doing his best to keep his feelings in check. To an outsider, it may have looked like he was comforting her—but in reality, it was the other way around. Similarly, despite the fact that sobs were still shaking her frame, the Pink Ranger had moved over to where Bridge had collapsed into a chair, rubbing his back gently.

     Eventually, however, Jack pulled away. “He’d rib us to hell and back if he were still here. We need to get back to work.” After some collective finding of their bearings, all four of them headed back over to their posts, going back to the tasks that had to be done.

     The information Z had managed to get from the shuttle was encrypted, and it took all four of them working together to start breaking it. To no one’s surprise, it was Bridge who eventually did it, jumping up from his seat and waving his hand—but he said nothing. It seemed that the news of Sky’s death had done the impossible—silenced Bridge Carson. The Red Ranger quickly called a meeting, and the four remaining Cadets clustered around the main table, bending over the portable screen he had pulled it up on.

     “It’s mostly just disjointed sentences, but I think it says something about some sort of Mothership…” The Yellow Ranger’s fingers skirted over the text searching for more, “And these…” She enlarged a set of numbers, pointing to them, “Look like coordinates.” Syd grabbed the tablet and a map, comparing the two.

     “It’s not far from here, not really. Though… It’d be a lot quicker if we had the Zords.” Jack looked at Z.

     “You think that it’s saying the Mothership is at that location?”

     “It’s as good a guess as any, and the only lead we have. Some of the rest of it indicates that the Drones are controlled by signals from said Mothership. If we can take it out, some how, it’d be a blow against them.” His adoptive sister hesitated before continuing. “And, well, we owe it to them to try, don’t we? To Sky, and the others.” This made them all pause sorrowfully, and Jack nodded, reaching into his jacket to feel where he had tucked Sky’s Morpher. They did owe it to them—to the SPD officers who had died trying to fend off the first onslaught of Drones, to Cruger, Kat, and Boom, who hadn’t deserved to die the way they did. And now Sky was added to the list; and Jack internally swore he’d make sure that the Blue Ranger’s sacrifice for his life wouldn’t be in vain.

     “Then we go.” He announced, and a thought occurred to him. “Bridge, you said Zords… We weren’t using them when HQ came down—is there any possibility Kat got the chance to send them to the Underground Hangar?” Bridge tried to snap his fingers, then remembered he was wearing gloves, and resigned himself to just pointing at Jack in agreement.

     “Anyone remember how to get there?” It had been a while since they had had to use it, but Jack had a hunch one of the others had a better memory than him. Which wasn’t hard; a treacherous voice in his mind snidely pointed out that Sky would have remembered, but he shoved it back.

     “I can.” The weak, tired voice surprised them, and it took Jack a moment to realise it came from Bridge. The other Cadet said nothing more, however, merely moving over to get in a customary handstand. Syd smiled, just a little, and shook her head at him, then touched Z’s elbow.

     “We’ll go get everything ready.” She said, and the girls headed off, leaving Jack waiting for Bridge. It didn’t take the younger Cadet very long to find the information he wanted; only about a minute.

     But it turned out that a minute was just a little too long.

     Jack felt the signature shaking in the ground and the high pitched humming that heralded the approach of the drones, even before he heard the girls’ voices shouting. As the other two burst into the room, Bridge quickly dropped from his spot by the wall, giving Jack a thumbs up.

     “He got it!” The Red Ranger called to the other two.

     “Good!” Z yelled back. “They found us!” Taking a quick peek out the window, Jack could see that they had. The twisted, many-faced mechanical monstrosities that were the Drones were climbing up the sides of the house, their bodies a mangled combination of technological and biological. Z grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. “We’ll take the underground route.” She suggested, and together they ran to the fireplace.

     “Why’d they make it a fireplace?” Syd wanted to know as they worked together to pull out the bottom panel; once they got the latch open, it was easier to do. “It’s not like they’re commonplace in homes nowadays.” Finally, they flipped the floor open to reveal the ladder. At that moment, however, the Drones broke through the windows, and though some fell victim to the electrically charged sills, there were too many for the defences to handle. Jack blessed the Pink Ranger’s speed and quick thinking when she grabbed her weapon and whirled, firing into the horde and taking down a few. Her actions gave him time to nigh shove Bridge and then Z down the hole, both of them catching and sliding down the ladder rather than waste precious seconds climbing. Once they were in, he looked at Sydney, who stood at his back, keeping up a steady stream of shots; even then, she was barely keeping them at bay, and probably couldn’t for much longer.

     “Syd! You next!” Just then, her blaster ran out of energy. In the fraction of a second before the wave descended upon them, she shook her head.

     “No! You’re the Red Ranger for a reason!” With that, she reached back and pushed him into the tunnel. He barely managed to catch the ladder as he fell, and looked up to see Syd’s face in the square of light above him, and their eyes locked for a second. “Good luck,” She said, as the Drones’ arms stretched out, wrapping around her and grabbing her uniform, and she heaved the panel back down.

     He heard her cry ‘Fist of Iron’ one last time before he was plunged into darkness.

* * *

     Bridge and Z were waiting for him in a small alcove when he stumbled out of the tunnel’s mouth, and beckoned him over to their shadowy hideout.

     Z looked worriedly behind him. “What about Syd?” But Jack was already shaking his head, and the dejection on his face made the answer clear. They both stared at him for a moment, then Bridge sank to the ground, hugging his knees to his chest tightly; Z fell against the wall, looking down at her feet.

     It took Jack himself amount to collect his thoughts. “She stayed behind to buy us time. We can’t stay here, let’s go.” Working together, he and Z helped Bridge stand, and then they slipped off onto the streets of the city.

     It had been a long time since he and Z had lived on the streets—it was her who recommended going back to one of their old hideouts to wait out the night, and idea that he quickly agreed with. They headed towards it in single file, staying out of the light to keep from being seen. The old hangout was a partially fenced off alley between two buildings that were close enough that the two roofs almost covered the entire area; there were no doors or windows on the walls behind the fence, and some careful cutting had allowed the two of them to create an entrance; a loose piece of the fence that they could lift and crawl through. It took a little cooking to get Bridge to do it, but once they were in, Jack saw that the old barrel they’d often used for light and heat was still there. Using some of the things they had managed to take with them, like Bridge’s wires and one of their portable electronics, they managed to make a spark that started a small flame in the dry trash that still filled the lower half of the barrel. Though it gave off some light and heat, because it was so low in the belly of the container, it would be hard to see from the outside; another benefit of the place was that the two buildings blocked the wind. They crowded around the barrel in silence for a bit, before Z spoke in a soft, slow voice.

     “Did you see her? When… You know.” He hesitated, but eventually answered.

     “… Yes.” He saw her look at Bridge, and understood why. The Green Ranger, normally such a chatterbox, had said but two words since learning of Sky’s death, and now, with Syd… Jack wasn’t sure if he was ever going to say anything again. Her eyes straying back to the fire, Z continued.

     “Did she… Did she suffer?” Jack tried to think of a way to answer. If Z’s voice had been at all tearful, he might have lied, but it was simply quiet and careful. After swallowing, he took of the Blue Morpher and cradled it in his hands for comfort, then simply told her the truth.

     “I don’t know.” They fell back into silence after that, and no one slept a wink for the rest of the night.

     The morning broke far too early for any of their likings, but all three were aware that they needed to get moving. Collecting what was left of their belongings, they crawled back out, dusting themselves off and slinking back off into the streets of the city. They were forced by the patrols, though the Drax were more hesitant in the daylight, to take the long way around to the bunker, following the still-silent Bridge’s directions.

     Eventually, they arrived at the hidden hatch, and clambered down another ladder to the large hall that was separated from the main hangar by double blast doors. After some hacking and tweaking, they got the doors open…

     Only to discover that the hangar was empty of Zords.

     “Damnit!” Jack shouted, storming into the large room, his voice echoing. “ _Damnit_!” He turned to look at the other two, throwing up his hands. “What are we supposed to do _now_?!” As if in answer, there was a fizzing sound behind him, then coughing. He whirled, pulling out his weapon; Z followed suit, and Bridge hung back. In the corner of the hangar, there was what they had originally taken to be a pile of debris and scrap was, on closer examination, some sort of person-sized canister. As they watched it carefully, it shook a few times, and then the top slowly popped open. The man who clambered out was guant and pale, and dressed in the black overcoat of the Commanders. He had a mass of long black hair, tired eyes, and Jack thought he might have seen fangs when the newcomer grimaced. At first glance, he could have passed for human, but a second look showed Jack that what he had taken for hair was actually thin, tendril like strands that were covered scales, the tone of his skin was just _too_ pale to have oxygen-laced blood beneath it; there was also his eyes, black pits in his face that seemed to bore right into their brains, despite the confused expression that the man wore.

     To Jack’s surprise, Z who recognised him; apparently, her hours spent reading up on SPD after joining had paid off.

     “Commander Phantasos?” The man blinked at her, then stumbled over to one of the crates on the floor, sitting down on it to hold his head in his hands.

     “Am I…? What is…? Where…?” His voice was deeper than Cruger’s but also less growly. Z came over and pushed Jack’s weapon down, holstering her own. After a few more moments, the Commander seemed to get his bearings. “I… Yes. I am Orpheus Phantasos.” Z crouched in front of him to peer at his face.

     “Yeah, I know. I remember seeing your picture in the roster; you’re one of the longest-serving Commanders in SPD.” By this time, Jack had recovered from his shock.

     “How—begging your pardon, sir—how are you here?” Orpheus sighed softly, then rose shakily.

     “I’m not sure… I…” Bridge had wandered over to the contraption he had climbed out of, poking at it. Z looked over at him.

     “Bridge, any idea what it is?” After waiting for a moment, she and Jack exchanged a look and she walked to stand next to the Green Ranger. “Bridge, you need to talk to us.” He glanced up into her eyes, and finally began to talk in a tired, broken monotone.

     “It seems to be some sort of teleportation machine.” Beneath the grime and loss, Z’s face lit up a little.

     “Kat must have made it! Maybe we can use it to get to the coordinates! What do you think, Commander?” Despite being directly addressed, Commander Phantasos seemed to be lost in thought rather than listening.

     “There was something important…” He mumbled. “There was something important I needed to do, I just can’t _remember_ …!” Jack put what he hoped was a comforting hand on the man’s arm.

     “It’s alright, sir. You’ll remember. At least we’re all together now; in the meantime, we have a plan.” He took out the portable computer they had downloaded the coordinates onto, holding it out to Orpheus. “These are the coordinates of the Drax Mothership on Earth. If we can get there, we should be able to set them back.” He looked at the machine. “Do you think we could fix that up to take us there?”

     “It is theoretically possible,” Said the dark-eyed Commander slowly, “But there would be the risk of it producing an easily trackable energy signature that would bring the drones down on this location; not to mention, there’s no way to know if we can power it enough.”

     “By which time, we’d be gone.” Jack countered. Orpheus hesitated, then finally nodded. As the others started to head off to see what they could use in the hangar, Bridge hobbled over to the man and tugged slightly at his sleeve.

     “Did…” His voice was still weak and ghostly, but at least he was speaking again. “Did anyone else make it out…?” The other two Rangers exchanged uncomfortable glances, both of them quite sure that Bridge was hoping for either Boom or one of his other scientist friends to have survived. But Phantasos was already shaking his head. Despondent again, the Green Ranger turned and scuttled of into the corner to work on the teleporter.

     There was no clock in the hangar, so they had no idea how long it took them, but eventually, it seemed like the teleoprter was in the best shape they were going to get it. Commander Phantasos was helpful, but occasionally he would stop to try and remember whatever the important thing was he had forgotten. Finally, Bridge and Z programmed the coordinates into it, and the thing was ready to use—they just had to hope there was enough energy.. They loaded the Green Ranger in first, and then activated it. Seeing as Bridge disappeared from the canister, they had to assume it had worked.

     Faster than they had expected, however, the buzzing of the Drones could be heard above them, along with what sounded like a drill, and the roof of the hangar began to shake.

     “Go!” Z yelled, strong arming Jack into the pod and flipping the switch before he could protest, leaving on her and Orpheus in the cave as the ceiling burst open and the Drax poured in to the cavern. When the machine whined loudly, Z ran to the display as the Drones lurched to their feet. “Shit!” She cursed. “There’s only enough power for one more trip!” The Commander appeared beside her, looking at the screen.

     “I was afraid of this…” He muttered. At a large thud behind them, they both turned. Aside from the Drones that were advancing on them, a large, spherical thing had also fallen in to the cave. Z saw the red light and the clock counting down fast with just a few moments to spare.

     “They need you more than me!” She decided, and used all her strength to push Commander Phantasos into the container, then hit the switch.

* * *

     Jack and Bridge both ran to help Orpheus up when he materialised on the cliff beside them.

     “Thank goodness; is Z coming?” The Commander looked like he was starting to answer Jack’s question, when a shudder destabilised them; all three of them turned to where they could see the city, distantly below. As they watched, an explosion, and then a plume of smoke and fire erupted in the place they knew the hangar was situated.

     After a moment of stunned silence, Phantasos spoke. “… There wasn’t enough power. She pushed me through.” Then he paused, touching his forehead again. “Ugh… I’ve almost remembered…” Jack just stood and stared; he barely felt Bridge take his arm. He couldn’t be angry with the Commander, not really. He’d seen what the Drax could do up close, and knew the circumstances they were in. Besides, Phantasos had no reason to lie about what Z had done—honestly, the Commander didn’t strike him as ruthless enough to trick them; just tired.

     And somewhat forgetful, he amended, as he looked over his shoulder to see Orpheus was still frowning and tapping his fingers against his arched forehead. Swallowing, the Red Ranger squared his shoulders.

     “… We should find that Mothership.” Bridge’s hand tightened on his elbow, and he looked to where the Green Ranger was pointing.

     And there is was, the same frightening mess of mechanics and biology that the Drax themselves were, huge and contrasting against everything Earth had ever built. The three of them stood, gazing at the monstrosity that sat before them. The Commander paused in his attempts to remember what he needed to do and looked at Bridge.

     “Do you have the charges?” The younger of the two Cadets peered into his pack, checking on the small, powerful explosives that they had located in one of the hangar storerooms. Though he seemed to be hesitating for a moment, the Green Ranger lifted his head and nodded. “Then let’s go, then.”

     Once again, Jack found himself blessing the mechanics of the Drax, which constrained the Drones to a specific pattern. There was also the fact that Commander Phantasos was extremely skilled at stealth, which helped them to sneak on board. Inside wasn’t much better than the outside, varying between grotesque, biological segments that Jack was pretty sure were salivating, and complex metal and mechanical ones. Once they were truly inside, however, there was much less security—most of the Drones were inactive, laying in rows upon rows of beds filled with a strange yellow liquid that seemed to be charging them.

     But they weren’t there for sightseeing.

     The three slipped around the place as quietly as they placed the charges at what seemed to be strategic locations, eventually arriving at what Jack could only describe as the stomach of the ship. Bridge set up the last charge, aligning the signal with the detonator. While he did that, Jack and Orpheus searched for a way out, eventually coming across what the Red Ranger suspected was a trash chute—or worse.

     “Alright.” The Commander announced, when Bridge indicated he was done. “Let’s go.” Jack nodded, and tried to motion Bridge first again, but the the Green Ranger shook his head.

     “I’ll be right behind you.” He promised, and his voice sounded just a little more lively than it had before. Jack took that as a good sign.

     He shouldn’t have.

     After some convincing, they got the Commander to jump down first, and he was quickly followed by Jack. When the Red Ranger turned to check for his comrade, however, he saw Bridge hesitating.

     “Bridge, what are you doing?”

     “… The charges. The teleporter messed up the way the signals connect somehow—I noticed when I checked them earlier.” The Green Ranger crouched down by the chute opening. “The detonator has to be within a foot of at least one of them for it to work, and there’s not enough time to drop it and make a run for it.” Jack knew he was staring at the other Cadet in absolute, unabashed horror, but Bridge only responded with a faint smile, his first since they lost Sky. “Be safe.” He told Jack, and pulled the lid back on to the chute.

     Jack wanted to just stand there, to be taken out by the explosion to, but he was grabbed by the collar by the Commander, who, despite dragging the unwilling Ranger, ran quite fast—probably because he was an alien. Even so, they were both sent flying when the explosion occurred.

     Jack landed hard, but he hardly felt the bruises, scratches, and what was probably a few broken bones as he stumbled to his feet, gazing at the remains of the Mothership, feeling like he was going to throw up. He heard Orpheus getting to his feet not far away.

     Now the Red Ranger found himself speechless—he was alone; they were gone, all of them. Everyone he’d ever become close with, worked with. He reached into his uniform’s jacket again, wrapping a hand around Sky’s disabled Morpher. All that was left of him. Of them.

     His team. The ones he, as their leader, had a responsibility to protect.

     Sky. Syd. Z. Bridge.

     His turmoil of sorrow was interrupted by a great, grinding, wailing sound, making him look up. What he saw made his blood, literally, run cold.

     A second Mothership descended from the clouds, landing right in the remains of the old one.

     It hadn’t mattered. The struggle, the suffering, everything they’d done. Their deaths. His _friends’_ deaths. It hadn’t mattered. It had been for nothing. Earth was still doomed. Behind him, he just barely heard the Commander’s enlightened whisper, making him turn.

     “I _remembered_!”

     And then he stabbed Jack in the stomach.


	2. Reconstruction

     Jack woke up with a yell. He bolted up so quickly that he very nearly banged heads with Commander Orpheus Phantasos, which was only avoided because the Commander himself slumped backwards, falling to his knees on the floor as a green-clad nurse wearing the SPD insignia dashed over and helped him into a chair.

     By that time, Jack had started to get his bearings, and realised he was lying on some sort of medical bed, with wires attached to something on his head. Panic started to set in, and he reached up to yank them off, only for his arm to be grabbed by none other than Kat.

     “Don’t do that! This machine is very delicate.” She reached up and, after a few clicks, removed the helmet.

     “What is—” Jack sputtered, and then, “Where is—” Kat moved aside, so that he could see the whole room. Around them were the rest of B Squad, but, differently than Jack, they were surrounded by medical staff and equipment, and being loaded on to gurneys while people yelled orders about things he didn’t really understand. Still, he could see that Z was kicking, forcing a nurse to hold her legs, and Syd even sounded like she was humming, despite appearing unconscious and an oxygen mask over her face.

     “What’s going _on_?” Jack finally managed, as one of the nurses hustled over and began checking his vitals.

     “What is going on, Cadet,” Said another voice he recognised; Cruger, “Is that you are very lucky.” Doggie turned to look at Phantasos, and Jack saw concern in his eyes. “You alright there, Orpheus?” The pale Commander waved a hand at Doggie.

     “Oh, I’ll be just fine in a little bit.” Jack looked between them.

     “Wait… I don’t… Everyone was…” Cruger reached over and put a hand on the Cadet’s arm.

     “It’s quite alright, Cadet Landors. I assure you, yourself and your Squad will be right as rain in no time.” The Commander went back to linking his hands behind his back. “Now, after you’ve got a clean bill of health from the medics, I want to see you in the control room. We’ll explain more there.” Then, Doggie helped Orpheus to his feet, and served as a crutch as they left the room.

* * *

     Doctor Felix examined Jack and told him that, aside from some severe stress and shock, he was predominately fine.

     “I would advise taking it easy for a few days. Your Squad is recovering well, but you’ve all been through quite an ordeal.” The Doctor told him, then turned away to clear up some medical supplies, sourly muttering when he thought Jack couldn’t hear him. “Always said these simulations would cause trouble…” The Red Ranger was quickly cleared to attend the debriefing in the control room, however, and his curiosity made him hurry out, though he swore he’d return to check on his Squad.

     He entered to find Kat and both Commanders. Phantasos was sitting down on a chair someone (probably Boom) had carried in, and was holding a mask to his mouth, connected via tubing to an air bag. Jack didin’t recognise the stuff the machine was pumping into the mask; it certainly wasn’t oxygen. It was an iridescent, silvery haze that didn’t seem to be entirely gas. Kat was hovering over him and the machine, her face a mask of worry. Orpheus, who had had his head bowed almost to the table top, clutching the mask to his face, looked up when Jack nervously mumbled something to announce his presence, lowering the mask, but holding it to his chest to keep the smoke-like air from escaping.

     “Anubis.” He said, making Cruger turn around.

     “Ah, Cadet. Thank you for joining us. I trust you’re well?” Jack shrugged.

     “Nothing life threatening. Just psychological, apparently.” He became increasingly aware that Commander Phantasos was gazing concernedly at him. “And, I don’t mean to be rude, but… What happened?” Orpheus sat back.

     “Well, Cadet. What’s the last thing you remember?” Jack hesitated, trying to think.

     “The… The Drax were here, and… And SPD was destroyed… But… But that—”

     “—Was an illusion.” Phantasos finished. Jack blinked.

     “What?” The Commander took a moment to have another inhale from the mask, then moved it again.

     “You knew this going in, but it’s understandable that your memory would be a bit confused.” At this point, Cruger joined in.

     “Orpheus is a Morpheian;” He explained. Jack couldn’t help a small snort.

     “Wow. Say _that_ three times fast.” He stopped his snickering when he noticed Orpheus glaring at him over his mask. Cruger just continued as if the Cadet hadn’t said anything.

     “A Morphian is a species that has an intense proficency for psychic and mental powers. They can connect with others minds; thoughts, feelings, even effect what they see. This ability has allowed him to be of exsquisite use to SPD, in particular, our training program. Working with Dr. Manx, he was able to develop a machine that could create similar circumtances—a safe, controllable, false reality. At least, we thought.” Orpheus stretched his back like it was aching, then picked up the tale.

     “You and your Squad were participating in a training simulation preparing for the possible assualt of the Drax; the purpose was to train you to prepare for the event of colossal destruction of SPD. If the Drax were to completely destroy all of Earth’s other defenders, what would you do? That was why you hardly mourned. But there was something else you didn’t know—a second purpose: failure.”

     “Failure?”

     “Yes. That simulations was designed so that, no matter what happened, or what you did, the situation would inevitably get worse. This was kept a secret from you so that we could gauge your response against insurmountable odds. If you had known, you wouldn’t have been giving your all, which you had to do for the simulation to serve it’s purpose.” Jack looked between the two Commanders, his feelings varying between understanding and seething.

     “So… You in _tentionally_ put in a situation that you _knew_ we’d _fail_!?” Phantasos ducked back into his mask, and Jack felt a little guilty when the Morpheian’s breaths were a little heavier than before, indicating the Cadet had hit a nerve. “I… I just—” But Orpheus was shaking his head.

     “No, I understand. Especially given the problems that arose… I can’t blame you for being upset.” The Red Ranger frowned.

     “Problems?” Cruger and Orpheus exchanged looks, and then the seated Commander continued.

     “Like I said, you were aware that the situation was a simulation when it started; you knew that whatever happened, in reality, you were safe at SPD HQ.’

     ‘That all changed when Cadet Tate died.”

     Jack chewed on his lip, thinking back to the moment in, what he now knew was, the simulation. At the time, it had seemed absolutely real, and the sight of Sky’s lifeless eyes was burned into his memory. The humming sound of Orpheus’ breathing apparatus brought him back to the control room.

     “… How?” The Morpheian Commander took another deep breath from the mask before he responded.

     “When Sky died, it triggered, particularly in you, and extreme emotional reaction. Now, the equipment was prepared for things like this—programmed that, when someone died in the simulation, they would wake up, and designed to handle the psychological spikes that would naturally result in witnessing the death of a friend or comrade. But the response you had was far beyond anything either I, or the mechanics, had ever encountered. It was so powerful that, somehow, your subconscious seized control of the simulation from both myself and the machine.” Jack didn’t try to stop his jaw from dropping.

     “That’s impossible. I can’t—I don’t—There’s no way—”

     “I’m not sure how you did it either, but it happened. Seeing your Squadmate dying triggered a subconscious force of will that overpowered all other holds on the illusion. It was so powerful that the minds of your team began to bleed into it. Cadet Tate’s subconscious became _so convinced_ that he had died that his vitals started flatlining on this end.” The Red Ranger stumbled back, and found himself falling into a chair that Boom had suddenly produced behind him. He nodded thankfully to Kat’s assistant, staring, aghast at the two men before him.

      “You’re saying that _I_ killed them?”

      “No, not exactly. Fortunately, we have medical alerts in place, and we were able to get professionals in. But there was only so much we could do in this area, so we had a dilemma; if we forcibly removed him from the simulation, in the state he was in, the resulting psychological shock would kill him—if we left him as he was, his own subconscious convictions would kill him. We moved some of the medical equipment in here while I and my assistants tried to find the problem—but when we started losing Cadet Drew, I knew there was only one option.”

     He must have been referring to Syd staying behind in the Safehouse after forcing Jack through the tunnel. Her face right before she closed the hatch had also engrained itself into Jack’s mind, a heartbreaking concoction of fear and bravery. He had to wonder what it had been like for the people on the outside, with Sky’s vitals already dropping, for Syd to start going Code Blue again. The Commanders watched him for a moment, giving him another pause to think as Phantasos inhaled again before continuing to talk.

     “There was no way for me to take back control from the outside—I had to personally enter the simulation. However, this lead to the possibility of myself becoming just as trapped as the rest of you, but I had to try.” Another moment with the mask interrupted his story. “However, when I entered the illusion, even a Morpheian like me was overwhelmed by the sheer subconscious _noise_ your three minds were producing. I was so effected by the belief of your collective subconsciousness that I nigh forgot my original purpose, and was swept up in the simulation myself. As the other effected minds dissipated, however, with the apparent deaths of Cadets Del Gado and Carson, I was eventually able to return to myself—and realise what I had to do.”

     Jack remembered all those events in perfect detail, too.

     “Yeah… You stabbed me!” He had to think for a moment. “Wait… How did you even _do_ that? You weren’t carrying a blade or anything!” He thought he saw a small smile on the Commander’s face as he raised his right arm and flicked his wrist, causing a long, thin blade that had been hidden in his coat sleeve to slide out; another flick sent it back in.

     “Never go anywhere with out it, even simulations.” He adjusted the sleeve before stopping to breathe again. “I had to kill you in the false reality in order to wake you up—as the original progenitor of the usurpation, you were the only one the original failsafe would work on.”

     Cruger watched Jack intently, while Phantasos went back to his mask.

     “As you can see, things became immensely complicated as a result.” Doggie sighed. “I’m putting you and the rest of B Squad on sick leave until such a time as we can be certain of your health, both physical and psychological. While you are recuperating, all of you are required to visit Doctor Eseme Moa, SPD’s resident psychological officer.”

     “A _shrink_?” Jack wanted to protest more, but Cruger glared at him, and he shut his mouth.

     “You are dismissed, Cadet.” The Red Ranger turned to go, only to pause, looking at Orpheus.

     “I… Have to ask…” The other Commander might have smiled again.

     “While I am accustomed to alternate climates, it is a simple matter that my people evolved with a specific respiratory system. Breathing Morpheian air helps me recover and heal faster from extreme exertion—such as having to force my way through a commandeered simulation. Using my abilities takes a toll.”

     “That reminds me,” Cruger interjected, “Cadet Landors, you are to start having training sessions with Commander Phantasos in order to strengthen your mental control when you are both well enough to do so.

     “But… I’m not…”

     “That doesn’t appear to matter, Cadet.” Orpheus interrupted. “You have a very strong brain on your shoulders, young man. If you don’t learn to focus and master your own will and mental prowess, you might find yourself in a similar situation to this.” Images of his Squadmates’ faces right before they died flashed through Jack’s head. “It’s best for their safety, and yours, that you learn to handle it.” The Cadet swallowed.

     “Alright. Just let me know when.” Then, he saluted, and left the control room.

* * *

     Doctor Eseme Moa looked much younger than expected, with high, sharp cheekbones and salmon-coloured hair in intricate braids. Younger and… Blue. She wore a slightly different uniform than most of the other female officers, one that was almost the same colour as her skin, and her forehead was adorned with a triangle whose points were marked by three glowing circles. Despite her severe appearance, however, she was a gentle woman, with a motherly smile.

     Syd was the first person to have an appointment with her, or maybe just the most willing. The Pink Ranger was huddled in on herself, legs curled up on the window seat of Dr. Moa’s greenhouse, while the therapist herself tended to her flowers. At least, Syd thought they were flowers. Moa had insisted that she preferred ‘alternate’ forms of psychology, like trying to make her visitors comfortable, and not confining conversations to her office.

     “You know… At the time, it just… Felt like the right thing to do.” Dr. Moa made a sound that told the Cadet she was listening, even though she didn’t look up. “And, you know… I wish I could say that I was so _brave_ , and that all I thought of was the good of the planet, but…” Tears sprang to the girl’s eyes. “But I _wasn’t_! I was scared! I was scared out of my _mind_! I didn’t want to die!”

     Eseme paused in her gardening to come over to sit beside Syd, removing her gloves.

     “Of course you were afraid. Dying, I’m told, is quite a reasonable fear.”

     “But I’m not sup _posed_ to be scared, right? I’m a protector of Earth! I _trained_ for situations like that! ‘No sacrifice is too small for the greater good,’ or something. I’m the Pink Ranger! I’m supposed to be a _hero_!” Moa reached over and patted the Cadet’s hand softly.

     “My dear, fear is a regular part of life. When I was in school for psychology, they were constantly reminding us that people who do things even though they are afraid, are brave. Those who know no fear? Well, they have thrill issues.” That got a small smile. “Sydney, you and your friends were put through a terrible ordeal, where you had to experience the one thing most people only know once. No amount of training can prepare you for the real thing; actual, perceived danger, whether it is really there or not, is very different than a classroom. Yes, so maybe you were afraid, but what do you think Anubis felt when he saw the massive armies attacking his planet? Any and all feel fear, child, and there is much more bravery in admitting it than in hiding it.” Syd played with the hem of her uniform, biting her lip.

     “I just… I want to do my team proud, you know? Be one of those heroes that people write home about.” A warm smile spread across the dark blue face.

     “Haven’t you read the papers, my dear? You already _are_. Now,” The Doctor stood, taking Syd’s hand, “Why don’t you help me with these flowers?”

* * *

     Bridge was next because he made no protest; he was even quieter than he’d been in the simulation. He sat one of the many couches in Dr. Moa’s home library (filled with actual, paper books!) and hugged his knees to his chest tightly, gazing off. Eseme wandered about the room for a while, cleaning, but eventually became aware of the young Cadet watching her. Smiling affectionately at him, she crossed over to the couch and sat beside him, reaching over to rub his back. When he leaned into her arm, she leaned closer and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, letting him silently lean on her shoulder. They sat that way for a very long time.

* * *

     It wouldn’t be exactly true to say that Z went kicking and screaming—though there was a large amount of complaining involved. Like Jack, her history had taught her not to put too much stock in therapists or psychology, and she spent a great deal of the first hour or so trying to get arise out of Dr. Moa. When that failed, she resorted to sulking. Eseme had decided that they would meet in the game room; and when the Doctor came over to her and offered her a deck of cards, Z accpted them for nothing else to do.

     As they played (a game Z recognised, no less), Eseme struck up conversation, but seemed to want to talk about everything _but_ the incident. Eventually, it drove Z mad enough to ask.

     “Aren’t you going to say something about what happened?”

     Moa seemed surprised. “Why would I? It’s not as if we’re only meeting once. You’ll talk if you ever feel like it, I’m sure. Also…” The therapist proudly displayed her hand, “… I am afraid I win.”

     “Damn!” Z yelled, then gave a muffled “Sorry!” when Dr. Moa raised and eyebrow at her.

     They played well into the rest of the day, making smalltalk and giggling like old girlfriends, and the event concluded with Z demanding a rematch with more animation than she had acted since the simulation. She even paused at the door to give the blue alien a quick hug before jogging back towards the the headquarters and her dorms, with Dr. Moa waving until she was out of site.

* * *

     Sky hadn’t wanted to go, either, but, in the end, he didn’t have a choice. Dr. Moa wasn’t surprised when she found him waiting for her in the garden, sitting on one of the stone benches by the fountain and staring into the water.

     “Just think of it as a makeup meeting.” She told him quietly. “Nothing else.” He glanced over at her, but didn’t get up when she sat beside him.

     “I don’t need this, you know. I was ‘coma boy,’ right from the beginning. I didn’t have the same experience the others did.”

     “You _always_ say you don’t need this, and yet you _always_ come back.” They sat in silence for a little bit, then Sky nodded at the fountain.

     “… Is this the one he helped you build? My father.”

     “Yes, it is. Well, admittedly, your father helped me build many things currently in the place in one way or another—I suppose that makes sense, giving how long he lived here and all.” The Blue Ranger looked sideways at her. Dr. Moa had an almost dreamy smile on her face. In the time he had been talking to her since his father’s death, she had been mostly unwilling to share details of her relationship with the elder Tate; and Sky had always suspected it was because she thought he might be upset on behalf of his long-dead mother.

     “I’m sure she’d’ve been fine with him not being alone, especially while I was at school.” Her head jerked a little, and he wondered if she’d heard him, but then she looked over and smiled gratefully. Sky looked around at the huge mansion he knew had once housed several tennants, his father included. “You don’t have anyone else here anymore. Don’t you get lonely?” She shrugged.

     “A little. But then you come over, or Kat, or Anubis, or even Boom, or someone else from SPD, and it just fades away. _But_ …” She turned on the bench to face him. “… You have cleverly put us off our topic of conversation.” He groaned.

     “There’s nothing to talk about!”

     “I’ve always found that being pushy works best with you; at the very least, I always learn something.” He sighed, but continued shaking his head. She folded her arms, giving him an altogether too motherly look. Frustrated now, he stood up and strode past the fountain to the garden path; he was, of course, quickly joined by the Doctor. “You know, I saw the transcription and the records. You saved Cadet Landor’s life in there, simulated or not.”

     “And at the time I did it, I thought dying would simply wake me up. It wasn’t a sacrifice. Hell, doing it is what messed everything up!” He waved a hand in apology when he got the ‘language’ look, but continued to march sourly down the path.

     “However, according to the records, it was the moment he realised you were dying that Mr. Landors effectively took over the simulation.” Eseme probed gently. “So, you did have a small amount of time where you truly believed you were dying.” Finally, Sky stopped walking, looking tiredly up at the clouds.

     “It was small, Eseme. It doesn’t matter.”

     “I think it matters to both of us. And to Cadet Landors.” He turned sharply to face her.

     “Jack? What does Jack have to do with this?”

     “In that small moment where you were dying, where you _believed_ you were dying, did you regret it? What you had done to save him? Did you only do it because you knew it wasn’t real?” He hesitated for a long while before answering.

     “No.” He confessed, eventually. “No, I didn’t regret it. And… When I did it, I didn’t even think about the consequences, or that it was a simulation. It was just… An instinct. I had to protect him—I had to get him out of there.” There was another long silence as Sky thought carefully. “He’s my friend.” He concluded at last, then repeated it more firmly. “Because he’s my friend. Not just because he’s the leader. I wanted to protect him because I… I cared.” She was giving him the motherly look again, but this time, he didn’t mind so much.

     “Would you do it again? If the situation were real, and even if death was a sertain consequence. Would you do it again?” This time, Sky’s answer came without hesitation of any kind.

     “Yes.”

* * *

     Jack pretty much wanted to forget the whole situation, but both his dreams, and Cruger’s orders made that impossible. Upon arrival, he was amazed at how large and beautiful the therapist’s home was, hidden away in a corner of the city. It looked like something from another planet—and, given that Z had told him the Doctor was an alien, it seemed likely that she would base her home on Earth on just that. She opened the door before he got to it, and gave him a flawless smile that made him just a little nervous.

     “Oh, wonderful. There you are. I was hoping you’d join me for tea.” Her tone was pleasant enough, and the invitation sounded sincere, so even though he didn’t even _like_ tea very much, Jack nodded. Her smile widened, and she stood to the side and beckoned him in.

     She ushered him into a seat in what he thought was called a drawing room, and then began bustling around getting trays and cups.

     “So, I’ve heard a great deal about you over the years, Jack.” He was unable to discern whether that ‘great deal’ was good or bad, but now she had him curious.

     “Really, from who?” Memory suddenly served that Boom had mentioned coming here a few times, and the Red Ranger promptly felt the need to add, “Anything Boom has told you is probably highly exaggerated…” She laughed, and he wondered if it was about him, or Boom.

     “Oh, yes, I’ve spoken with Boom. But I have actually heard about you from another source, not at _all_ given to exaggeration.” Finally, with everything set up, she sat across from him. “Do you want me to tell you what everything is? Oh, but you’re from Earth, aren’t you? I suppose you know.”

     He _did_ know, though he couldn’t claim to have eaten anything on the tray before. The small sandwiches and tarts were things he’d seen on television and in displays before. It was a little strange to have an blatantly alien woman following the decidedly Earth custom, but he had honestly seen stranger.

     “So, you’re the Red Ranger. How’s that been going for you?”

     “Fine.” He could tell she knew he was lying, but she made no comment, instead deciding to talk of something else entirely.

     “I’ll be honest, Mr. Landors, I am unsure of how to proceed with you. Out of your whole Squad, you were the one who had, possibly, the most difficult of experiences.” In looking for an excuse not to talk, Jack grabbed one of the cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches from the tray and stuffed it in his mouth. Dr. Moa giggled at him. “Is the idea of confiding in me so horrible to you?” She crossed her legs. “Well, at the very least, tell me what you think of the sandwich.” He quickly nodded, and gave her a thumbs up, making her laugh again. “You know, I can understand why it’s so hard for you to confide in someone—both you and Miss Del Gado have been primarily self-sufficient for most of your lives. Even your parents were hardly ever around, taking up jobs as missionaries to other planets. A job that unfortunately claimed their lives.” Jack paused in his chewing to swallow, just a little dejectedly. It made sense that she’d know; SPD likely had the resident psychologist read up on most of the officers in her jurisdiction, but he had just found out himself a month ago.

     While doing community service in a distant system, both of his parents had caught ill and died—not only had they never got to learn he was a Ranger, but he’d never gotten the chance to try and reconnect with them, now knowing what he did about their history with SPD. Even worse, they’d been due back to Earth for a spell in a few weeks.

     While he’d been musing, Dr. Moa had been watching him carefully, her brows beneath her marked forehead knitting together.

     “… Have you told the rest of your Squad?” He shook his head. “You should. I think you’re just as aware as I am how well they’ll understand.” She was right; he _was_ aware. He knew that Sky was already an orphan, Syd’s mother was still around but had very little time for her, Z’s parents had dropped her off at school and never looked back, and Bridge… Actually, he knew next to nothing about Bridge’s family situation.

     “… Yeah, I know.” She picked up a tart and began nibbling on it daintily.

     “The fact of it is, Jack, you’re not on your own anymore. You don’t have to rely totally on yourself. You had Elizabeth before,’ (he was vaguely surprised Z didn’t suddenly appear to complain about the use of her full name) ‘But now you have the others, too. And, I think, that, deep down, you know that. You know that, and now you’re afraid of losing it—that’s why you took Sky’s death so hard; because it opened the possibility of you being alone again; it only got worse after Miss Drew and Mr. Casron died as well.” She finished the small dessert, dusting nonexistent crumbs off her fingers. “That was what you felt at the end, wasn’t it? Alone?” He didn’t want to admit she was right (he didn’t like admitting that other people were right), but he knew that he had thought that exact words while gazing at the destroyed Mothership. She kept the silence by calmly taking some sips from her teacup and pucking up a sandwich, which she ate in the same, calculated, lady-like method that she had the tart.

     “… I was supposed to protect them.” He’d mumbled the words in a monotone, and wasn’t sure she’d heard until she responded.

     “No. You’re supposed to protect each _other_. They have just as much responsibility for you as you do them. You may be the Squad leader, but you are a part of the Squad. You have to respect their choices and calculations. Especially in a moment of truth, our lives are our own to give and use as we please.” She set her tea down. “I guarantee you, Cadet Landor, that, despite the consequences and results of their actions, none of your Squad regrets their decisions.” He snorted.

     “Did they tell you that?”

     “If they had, my telling you that they did would be a breech of confidentiality. Right now, however, I am simply telling you of the conclusion drawn by my analysis of B Squad’s history.”

     “Then how is it a guarantee?” Her smile took on just a hint of smugness.

     “Simply because, Cadet, I am _very_ good at my job.” She was making him uncomfortable again, so he picked up the teacup in front of him, taking a quick, small sip; only to discover she’d given him coffee.

     “… This is!” She was laughing again.

     “I’m SPD’s resident psychologist! You really think I didn’t know that you’re not fond of tea?”

     “But you said…?”

     “‘Tea’ is a specific mealtime—a shortened version of ‘teatime.’ British, I think.” Now he really wasn’t sure what he thought of her. The clock chimed, however, saving him from further discussion. “Oh, would you look at that. Out of time. Well, no matter, we’ll see each other again.” She stood, showing him to the door the same way she’d shown him in. Walking out, however, he stopped and turned.

     “Hey?” She stopped in closing the door.

     “Yes?”

     “How do you know Sky?” She blinked. For the first time, he seemed to have caught her off-guard.

     “What makes you think I know him?”

     “Because you called him ‘Sky.’ Everyone else, you either said ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister,’ or their full first name. But you called him by his nickname.” She gave him a look from the corners of her eyes, and he got this strange sensation that he might have impressed her somewhat.

     “You are an interesting boy, Cadet Landors. And you are right; I do know Sky. I was friends with his father.”

     And, with a small flourish, she closed the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on FF.net, but I thought I'd share it here, too, bc I actually really like it.  
> This was inspired heavily by an episode of Young Justice, as I'm sure some people can tell.


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